AESA News: Safe driving technology for school buses; News on the upcoming Federal Advocacy Committee meeting

November 27, 2018

It's Happening This Week!

AESA staff are headed to Colorado Springs for the 33rd Annual AESA Conference happening this week.

We cannot wait to meet over 800 members, 80+ exhibitors, business partners with their representatives, and top notch presenters - all who will be at the conference this week.

Are you registered?

Please check your email for the last-minute update sent last week. Don't forget to download the conference mobile app for updates throughout the conference. (See information later in this newsletter.)

If you aren't attending this year, stay in touch on social media at #AESA_ac18.

AESA's Executive Director Joan Wade

Honored with

Cooperative Builder Award

On November 13th, Joan Wade, Executive Director of AESA, received the Builder Award from the Cooperative Network of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The Cooperative Builder Award is the highest tribute bestowed on individual cooperators or friends of cooperatives by Cooperative Network. Through this award, Cooperative Network recognizes select men and women for their contributions, loyalty, and service to the cooperative movement at the local, state regional, or national level.

The following statement was read about Joan at the 2018 Cooperative Builder Awards Banquet.

“Joan is truly a leader that loves what she does and whose passion empowers others to thrive throughout an organization. She has contributed significantly to the high quality of public education in the state of Wisconsin and to the high quality of cooperative educational service agencies.

To those who know Dr. Joan Wade, it should come as no surprise that she is being recognized for her 20+ years of dedicated service, advocacy, collaboration, and leadership with and for educational cooperatives. Currently the Executive Director of the Association of Educational Service Agencies, Joan has embodied the principals of cooperatives as she’s forged partnerships, advanced innovative ideas, shaped policy, and affected change for public education, for rural communities, and for educational cooperatives.

Joan’s first involvement with educational cooperatives began early in her career as an educator when she initiated a collaborative endeavor to create a distance learning network between three area school districts through CESA 5. The South Central Instructional Network Group was the result of this cooperative effort, which eventfully grew to include 18 school districts and kick-started Dr. Wade’s two-decade career as a leader for educational cooperatives.

Fast forward to present day, she is known for her “five bold steps” to redesign the association and her continued commitment to strengthening and increasing participation in educational cooperatives."

Congratulations Joan!

New Business Partnership Brings Cutting-Edge Safe Driving Technology to ESAs

Innovative Technology For Transportation (ITFT) and AESA are pleased to announce a new partnership with ITFT’s Soteria , the premier safety standard for student transportation.

The partnership will bring cutting edge safe driving technology to AESA’s 553 member educational service agencies nationwide.

Soteria is a cost-effective solution for all automotive vehicles. Its patented technology will deliver compatibility to every vehicle manufactured after 1996 to either prevent or notify when a driver is speeding, driving recklessly, or using apps on their phone while driving. Through the partnership with AESA, the unique Soteria safe driving system will be readily available to more than 80% of public school districts and 83% of private schools in the United States.

Read more about Soteria!

Federal Advocacy Committee

Each year, AESA establishes legislative priorities developed at the annual Federal Advocacy Committee Meeting. Every state is invited to place one representative on the committee to participate in the process.

This year's Federal Advocacy Committee Meeting is January 22 - 23, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

If you are interested in learning more about the Federal Advocacy Committee Meeting, please visit this website or contact Joan Wade, AESA Executive Director.

Don't forget to download the

AESA Annual Conference Mobile App

Again this year, AESA is providing a mobile application for the Annual Conference. When you use the mobile app, you will get up-to-the-minute information such as the latest agenda, updates from the conference planner, speaker information, maps, exhibitor and sponsor details, an attendee list, and more.

To get the AESA 2018 Annual Conference mobile app:

• iPhone and iPad users—search “AESA Annual Conference" on the Apple App Store

• Android users—search “AESA Annual Conference" on the Google Play Store

• Blackberry, Windows, laptop users—go to this address (omit www): https://aesa.gatherdigital.com

For message alerts, please allow "Push Notifications" on your device for this app.

Attendee-to-attendee messaging:

Additionally, log in to the app to participate in attendee-to-attendee messaging and the activity feed.

To log in to the app, select “Login” at the top of the side navigation bar and then enter the email address you used to register for the conference and “ AESA2018 ” as the app password. Note: the password is case sensitive.

We look forward to seeing you at the conference and we hope you enjoy using the mobile app!

Your name, organization, and job title may appear on the attendee list in the app. Please note: No other contact information will be shown. Questions about information contained in the app, including attendee information and the conference planner’s privacy policy can be sent to the conference organizers at info@aesa.us.

AESA | info@aesa.us | www.aesa.us